Promise Me This
by cryptically
Summary: Pre-Tsubasa. Princess Tomoyo sees something in a dream that must be prevented at all costs. But whatever could it have to do with Kurogane? ::KuroTomo::
1. Fishy Tidings

"The perimeter's secured."

His black cloaked whirled out behind him, thrashing against the doorway as he passed through it and crossed to the throne. The crescent moon insignia glinted on his chest and his shoes made noise next to nothing on the cold, stone floor of the castle; the only sound emanating from him appeared to be his voice. Princess Tomoyo, Tsukiyomi, and the priestess who connected the wards of Nihon, was occupying the room in her elder sister's absence.

She looked up and dismissed the servant she had been speaking to.

"Very well. Thank you, Kurogane."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes. "Just why do I have to do this anyway? Not that I mind," he grinned. "On a night like this, the full moon pretty much lights up anyone trying to hide on the grounds or roof. It was way too easy."

The princess straightened the sheaf of papers that she had in front of her. Paper to be used for wards, perhaps, Kurogane mused. He found it odd that she'd take the things along with her; other women occupied themselves with embroidery. Was there something she wasn't telling him about this visitor? Damn it, she knew he hated it when she did that...

Instead, Tomoyo frowned slightly. "You didn't leave any floating in the moat, did you?"

He sighed. "No."

"What about on the roof?"

"No."

"And behind the gardener's shed?"

"Dammit, Tomoyo! No!"

An attendant stiffed. "Sir, you will take care to address the princess by her--"

"Yeah, yeah." Kurogane waved it off. They lectured him about this every time he came in here. Royalty. Tsh.

Arching a brow at him, the princess shrugged. "Well, I hope it's true. I trust you can recall the time when the groundskeeper was scared nearly out of his wits when he found the cache of carcasses that had accumulated behind his quarters."

"Hey! The palace roof just happens to slant that way! I couldn't help it if they all fell down over there and I was kept busy with other attackers until morning. Besides," Kurogane muttered, "it was his fault for being so curious about the smell that he felt he had to go invesigate it himself."

Tomoyo shook her head. One of these days, he was going to push things too far; she knew it, even without the gift of foresight. So far, perhaps, that even Shirasaki might not be welcoming for him. But, until that day came...

"Alright. We have a very important visitor arriving tonight, and I want to make sure that he comes across no unnecessary surprises."

Kurogane scowled. It had been a long time since he'd really gotten to do a scowl--he'd spent the past few hours in a manic frenzy, a smile blazing across his features as he hewed down enemies, and before that it had been boredom --and he did so with great aplomb.

"What sort of idiot travels at night, anyway? Did he just want to make himself a target for every half-wit bandit there is?"

"I will not have you address my guest as such when he arrives. He is a lord traveling here on business of the greatest urgency, and the conditions of his stay are the reasons I called you to me tonight."

Hmm. Another lord.

He didn't like where this was heading.

It was always lords, princelings, dukes and duke's sons-- anyone with a claim to a royal bloodline had been coming to Shirasaki these days. Why? Shockingly, Kurogane hadn't had much luck in finding out the reason. Ordinarily, this would be a disgrace for a ninja, but in his case, it seemed...odd. He was typically assigned to guard the grounds (which he was very good at and enjoyed perhaps much more than he should) on nights when an important meeting between the royal family, namely Tomoyo, and the visiting royal was to occur. When he tried to glean information subtly out of other people (which he was not very good at and got annoyed with very quickly), he was met with failure. All he had been able to deduce was that they all seemed to be here on matters pertaining to trade.

He waited. Maybe Tomoyo was finally going to give him some answers.

She opened her mouth, then closed it. An indecipherable look dominated her features, as though she were trying to say something as seriously as possible without breaking into laughter at the same time. It was a little disconcerting to see on one's princess's face. Kurogane was immediately concerned.

"Tomoyo-hime?" Kurogane asked, in quite a different tone than he had used earlier.

Tomoyo took a deep breath, and seemed to transfix him with her eyes. It was times like these that Kurogane felt most aware of the powers she possessed, not something tangible and ease to sense, as his strength with a sword was, but...different. Like the moon that swam above the castle turrets tonight, golden in full, ever changing through the days, elusive and hiding behind clouds, something just as much a symbol of the royal family as the sigil on his armor and their banners.

"I had a dream about you, Kurogane, and that is what I wish to discuss. "

A dream? About him?

Kurogane's eyes scoured a floor tile to avoid meeting hers. Why on earth had she been dreaming of _him_?

"So, you had a dream. You have those all the time, right?" Of course she did. Her talents connected her as much to the night as her title.

She smiled. "Surely you've been wondering about all these people coming to the palace lately? And I believe you have found that no one will tell you anything about the reasons for their coming."

He nodded. How had she known? The thought crashed into him, almost painful with its clarity. She would never have withheld--not from him--

"I gave orders that you were to be kept ignorant of the proceedings until such time as I chose to enlighten you. Now, in light of this dream, I find I must speak out. The reason why Shirasaki has been seeing so much traffic from royal families is that," she paused, and whether it was a laughing smile or a sighing smile that graced her lips was impossible to judge, "they have come seeking a marriage contract."

"With your sister?"

He knew as soon as he said the words that it couldn't be true. Marrying the imperial ruler would have warranted a much bigger affair, more fuss, and there would be no one in the entire country that could be kept from knowing the information. While it was still fairly impressive that Tomoyo had managed to keep it quiet for so long, it was nowhere near as impossible.

Affirming his suspicions (and, somewhere in him he realized, some of his worst fears), she nodded. His hands suddenly began to sting, and he found that this was because he had clenched them tightly into fists.

"So, what, do you want my blessing or something?" He retorted, trying to remain aloof.

This wasn't going to get to him at all. Not a chance. Now, if he could just last until the end of this pointless meeting, he was sure that there would be more people that had crept up onto the roof by now for him to vent his anger on...

"No, actually. The talks haven't gone that far yet. What I want," she said, voice commanding, "is for you to make me a promise."

His chest clenched. That he'd just sit back and let it happen? That he'd stand idly by while she bound herself to some scumbag that only wanted her for her title, powers, and prestige? No way. Or, maybe, that he would continue to guard her from afar, watching her be happy and grow old with someone else, watching her life go by, always as her guardian and nothing more...

A growl was building up in his throat, unbeknownst to him. Tomoyo paid it no mind. Instead, she was trailing a finger through the air absently, as though thinking things through.

"I don't suppose you have to promise me this for every one of them that visits the palace, but you must for this one. His family owns a good deal of the rice industry, and if anything transpired that might lead to bad trade relations, our personal stores would be hit hard, to say nothing of the families living under our protection."

"So all I have to do is be nice to the guy, is that it?"

"Ah, no..."

Tomoyo's face took on that odd look again.

"What, already? Spit it out!"

She gave him her most composed look, which took a supreme amount of control, only to be expected from so vital and famous a priestess. "I want you to promise me that what I saw in my dream will not come true. Under no circumstances do I want you to--" her mouth twitched -- "sew sashimi into the interior of his ceremonial robes and laugh as he races out of his rooms, trying to pry them all out."

Kurogane was silent.

"_That _was what would have happened?" He asked, dumbfounded.

Tomoyo nodded, trying hard to show that the idea was completely not amusing and failing. Wiping her eye, she continued. "The cooks will be furious and the price of rice products will skyrocket."

Kurogane shook his head. "I'm impressed with myself. To think I'd ever _want_ to learn to sew..."

A familiar, wild grin settled on his lips. Sashimi seemed a little slippery, but with practice he could probably pull it off. Now, to find a maid to teach him...

"Alright, I promise. But only for this guy."

Once he'd left, off to check the roof again and probably terrorize the garden staff, Princess Tomoyo finally allowed herself to give into uninhibited gales of laughter. Times like these made her concede that seeing the future really _was_ quite a fun talent to have.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

This is my first KuroTomo fic that's not a drabble! yay! It's really more of a random idea that I kept expanding on and just wrote on a whim. Anyway, hope you liked it!

--cy.


	2. Pride Before the Fall

**Author's Note**:

Since people apparently like this, I'll continue (I was sort of up in the air about it and then figured, what the heck). So here it is! I hope it's okay--writing KuroTomo is something I'm still pretty new to, but I'll try!

--cy.

_P. S._ For all those who care: Taro, the Nagashima family, and Fubai are all things created by me. For the purposes of this story there will inevitably be more of them, but I just wanted to clear that up in case awesome Tsubasa purists (who rock for knowing all that they do) are curious or confused. I tend to be fuzzy on some cultural aspects of Nihon, so if there's anything that seems weird, (sorry!) let me know.

* * *

"Ah, and this must be...the hired help?"

It was said without malice, completely and utterly innocent. But the speaker had that arrogant, son-of-a-bitch smile plastered all of his face. Kurogane scowled and did his best to look like something akin to a lord of darkness, murderous instincts restrained by a hair-thin thread.

Instead, he came off as brooding and sulky hired help. He scowled more.

Tomoyo cleared her throat.

"This is Kurogane, one of the ninjas of my guard, Lord Taro. I considered meeting him a good idea before we begin our trade negotiations."

_Trade negociations, my ass._ Kurogane refrained from speaking, but it was an effort.

The word was out: Princess Tomoyo, miko of Nihon, was entertaining suitors. It seemed like every hyped-up lord or prince from anywhere within traveling distance had come to try for her hand. Nihon's wealth and prosperity aside-- her dowry would be great, no question-- many saw another advantage at marrying a princess who could see the future. The ability to subvert enemies, grow crops that would succeed, prevent tradegy; all these were definite draws for royals.

Kurogane was hating every moment of it. Yeah, sure, he'd done as Tomoyo had requested the first time, but now these jerks were just getting on his nerves.

"I thought we'd already met your captain of the guard?"

"Ah, yes. That was Souma." Tomoyo gestured politely, emphasizing with her movements that the ninja they were going to meet now was something very different from Souma. "This is Kurogane."

The lordling glanced down at him, as though trying to discern the difference. "So?"

"What Tomoyo-hime is saying is that I'll be sitting in on these negotiations." Kurogane stated, bluntly. He knew Tomoyo would be taking the diplomatic path to breaking the news to their visitor, but he was a believer in just saying things straight out. All this beating around the bush made him sick. He grinned. Probably why he'd never make a good diplomat. That, and his tendency to kill people. As a rule, those just tended to cut short any ambitions for ambassador.

But, what the hell. He liked his job. He liked his job a lot.

He grinned more.

The lord (Taro? Kurogane recalled hazily--there'd been a lot of them lately) shifted, his face scrunching up like someone had put some stinky, sticky paste like nabe under it. Nabe, Kurogane mused delightedly. That would be perfect for smothering along the little lord's bedspread.

He'd see to that later.

"Really, my dear princess, I thought that we would be meeting in more _civilized _conditions, not under lock and key all the time..." His voice trailed off, as though this were the most logical thing in the world.

Tomoyo sighed. "That would have been the case, but after the incident of three weeks ago, I refuse to speak with anyone on official business without a guard any more."

The lord nodded stoically. One of the reasons why it was common knowledge that the princess was seeing suitors was the attempt on her life that had been made three weeks ago, when an assassin disguised as a prince had tried to slit the princess' throat. Tomoyo was under the impression that it was sheer luck that anyone had heard her cry for help--Kurogane knew it was because he had been listening at the keyhole the entire time.

"I see. Very well. He seems quite adept at hiding in the shadows, so I suppose he'll do." He smiled a smug smile at Kurogane. Kurogane did his best not to give him something not to smile about.

Tomoyo bowed, and left Kurogane to show the new arrival to his quarters.

Kurogane gawked at her. What was he? Some sort of ninja roomservice?

He was about to demand that she show the bastard his damned rooms herself, but then bit his tongue. It wouldn't be befitting for him to embarass his master in front of some lowlife. Jaw set in a firm, thin, unhappy line, he silently led the way up a flight of stairs and down a long, decorated hall to a high bronze door.

"There. You need anything, send one of your messengers and someone will help you out."

Taro examined the room with an admiring eye. Damn well he better be admiring. This was one of Shirasaki's best suites, one reserved for visiting royalty and extremely valued diplomats.

"Very well, servant. Let your mistress know that I will also be bringing my own guard with me as well, for my own protection, understandably."

Kurogane gritted his teeth. "What did you just call me?"

The lord cocked his head. "Oh, I apologize. Obviously I had a slip of the tongue. Run back to your owner, dog."

"You're going to regret that."

The lord shrugged. "Really? Is a servant really threatening me? Don't you realize," he smiled condescendingly, "that when I marry your princess you become mine to command as well?"

Kurogane snorted. "That's a big if, not when."

"Oh, with the Nagashima House, it's always when." Taro replied.

"Prick."

"Savage."

Somehow, Kurogane removed himself from the suite without managing to start a war between Nihon and Fubai. This he considered to be a feat of amazing social skill. Hell, maybe he had a shot at diplomat after all.

He found Tomoyo in her quarters, working at her desk, reviewing the trade agreements with Fubai, the lord's country. Her attendants flocked around the room, chattrering amongst themselves.

"Did you see his cloak?"

"Ooh, yes! Green and gold are Fubai's colors, which makes sense, given their forests."

"His smile..."

"The insignia of the bird and tree--"

"He's so regal."

Kurogane shut the down with a whack.

"You know, he's a real bastard."

The chatter erupted into whispers.

Tomoyo sighed, crisply flicked through some of the pages, glancing over a few crucial paragraphs here and there, composed.

"He wanted me to tell you that he's going to bring his own guard."

She waved it off, focused on a certain section. When she spoke, she sounded distracted, like there was something weighing heavily on her mind that she wouldn't let interfere with her work.

"Very well. That seems reasonable."

"Tomoyo."

Fighting in close quarters, in full light--not his thing. If Kurogane was going to take someone out, it would be in the dark, in a wide space with plenty of hiding places, and they wouldn't see him until it was too late. Stuck in a room for ages on end, while they talked trade: boring. Trying to defend his princess and suppress attackers who could see his every move: not the sort of challenge he would want Tomoyo involved in. Especially if they spread out.

A lady smacked him on the back of his head with ribbon.

"Address the princess as her title demands."

Kurogane narrowed his eyes at her. She backed away.

Putting down the papers, Tomoyo sat up. "Is there anyone who would not do that when told that a guard from the opposite camp would be posted? He is a lord of the Nagashima, and they're naturally suspicious. They've got lumber and stone reserves well guarded, and it's known how well-versed they are in palace customs. I find it perfectly acceptable."

Kurogane tched.

"He's certainly not acting like he's a good guest."

Tomoyo arched an eyebrow, a smile playing along her lips. "And can you say that you've been any more hospitable?"

Kurogane couldn't honestly say that he had.

"First the attack, now guards," she murmured. "It seems like being a guest really doesn't mean much of anything to people now."

"Look, Tomoyo-hime, don't get worriedf about it. This Taro guy is just a jerk."

With that, she stood rapidly.

"That's just what I mean! I don't want you treating him so disrespectfully! I don't like having to be accompanied by guards when I should be able to converse with my _honored_ guests in peace! I don't want to break our most valued traditions!" She met Kurogane's eyes dead-on and light lavender clashed against crimson. "I want to improve relations, not make things worse. And it seems you're a major force in the opposite direction."

"I don't want to be treated like dirt. He thinks he can walk all over us." Kurogane spat. The only person he ever really opened up to about anything was Tomoyo. Thankfully, her maids had had the sense of mind to have emptied the room by then. He always absently wondered how they managed to pull that off. It was like they hadn't been there in the first place. Maybe they were given something similar to ninja training before stepping into their duties.

Tomoyo shrugged. "I understand. Kurogane, you are free for tomorrow. I shall instruct Souma to accompany me. Meanwhile, I must see to the wards."

His hands clenched into fists.

"You can't do that!"

She smiled. "And what is there to say that I can't? The only thing that will happen with you present is fighting. I am the princess, and I have made this decision. We can at least make a stab at being hospitable, even if the times are against us."

Yeah, a stab. A stab was what it would be, alright. Right to the--

He cut himself off and excused himself to guard the rooftops. One good thing that came of having more royals staying at the place was that the assassination attacks had skyrocketed. Kurogane had a lot of work to do.

And on a night like tonight, he was looking forward to every slash of it.


	3. In Which Kurogane Expresses His Feelings

**C**_hapitre III_**_:_ In Which Kurogane Expresses His Feelings With Green Paste**

Green cloaked guards pervaded the palace and Kurogane didn't like it one bit.

He had half a mind just to stab the tricky bastard and get it all done with, but unfortunately, though the ooportunity presented itself on more than one occasion (on lots of occasions, actually), he could never follow through on it. Why? Well, he was good, but not good enough to escape the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, i.e., twenty guards in plainsight and close quarters. And second, there was Tomoyo-hime to think about.

She'd gotten awfully defensive when he'd talked to her about that Taro lord. Kurogane couldn't help wondering why.

Usually, when a suitor came into the palace, they would laugh about his failings, how one was too short, or how another one walked funny, or how that one was just completely in it for the money. Kurogane had developed a habit of visiting the princess and expressing his disapproval of each one. Now, he was left to do that on his own, which he still did, albeit with various colorful, invective adjectives.

He had removed himself to outdoor and late night guard duty, which suited him just fine and let him keep away from the goings on. So what if Tomoyo wanted to take this guy seriously? Tsh, not his problem if she had extraordinarily bad taste in the matter. Nope, and it didn't bother him one bit. Sometimes master and pledged just didn't agree on things. Not like they had to agree on everything to begin with. Hell, maybe she _liked_ the guy.

That thought left such an incredibly bad taste in his mouth that he found he needed to clear it immediately.

And what better place to get some fresh air than by visiting the roof?

It was late afternoon, probably the time that Kurogane would find himself sleeping when the idea struck him. The chefs were still quite miffed with him over his last bout with the princess' suitors and naturally wanted him out of their workspace at all counts, but, that's what being a ninja was for. You just waltz right in, grab some very weighty containers of wasabi and make yourself scarce before anyone's the wiser. That, and you add wasabi to the shipment list going out.

And well, it was going out, in a sense. It would be going out all over some lord's floor, bedroom, and ceiling, as well as all those really hard to avoid places like thresholds and doorways. Kurogane took great delight in creatively spreading it around, then quickly erasing any traces of his presence.

Feeling accomplished and vindicated, he was walking down the entrance hall (he'd left the room through the window, and rigged the window to lock from the inside so that there would be no way to connect him to the incident) when a young attendant hastily brushed past him, a worried look in his eyes. Kurogane noticed that his robes were a canary yellow and decided to take pity on the soul. Hell, he was feeling generous. Exacting revenge on his enemies did that to him once in a while.

"Yo, what's up? Don't run around in here, you'll crash into some one."

The page nodded fretfully, out of breath and a little cowed at speaking to a tall, dark, and slightly murderous-looking man. "Yeah, that's happened already. I think someone almost skewered me, too..." He bent and inspected a tear across the torso of his garment. "You guys really take security seriously around here, don't you?"

Kurogane nodded, proud but wary of compliments. Assassins could be so polite when they wanted to. You couldn't afford to be too careful. Or paranoid, whichever came first. "Shirasaki's pretty safe. So what's with the running? You with someone?"

The boy nodded, fixing his cap, which had been knocked slightly askew with all his rushing about. "The Duke Kastsukiro of the Hoshou Dragons is meeting with the princess downstairs and I'm being sent to make sure that his rooms are prepared." His brow knotted. "It's just that they keep shuffling people around that I have no idea where anything is! We were originally promised quarters on the western side, but now I find we're to have the Bronze Suite." He ran a hand through his hair.

Kurogane blinked. Wait. The Bronze Suite was the one where Taro had been staying, and now this pipsqueak was saying that someone else was going to take it. Damn it, had the plans for rooms changed that drastically?

His hands balled into fists as he realized that there was only one person who could get away with changing the rooms on this short notice. What, did she _want_ this duke to live in wasabi land? Or maybe...

Damn it all to the seven hells and back.

He stuck his hands in his pockets and glared at the kid, who recoiled accordingly.

"What's your name?"

The boy in yellow tried to sound brave, but came of as sort of wobbly. "Mikaru. Attendent and page to the His Splendor, Katsukiro of the Hoshou Duchy." He gave small bow. Evidently, training was taking over. He quickly recovered. You didn't really bow to servants and guards.

"You've been changed again. There's been a problem with the Bronze Suite--nothing we can't handle, but a guard will be posted there during the night to make sure that the security of the palace isn't compromised. You'll be in the Jade Hall for tonight. Go and inform your duke."

Each week, as a gesture of thanks to her guards, Princess Tomoyo allowed one of the most regally furnished rooms to be used by one of the members of her protective group. The room and the lucky winner were often randomly chosen, though on more than one occasion (like when someone had a bad day or a near-miss attack at them) their name might be chosen. Last week, Souma had gotten the Western Room, and this week--

"It's right down this hall here," Kurogane said, almost wanting to frog march the boy to the door's front so there would be no confusion. "It's got gems arching over the entrance. Jade's green," he added, just in case the boy got_ really_ lost, "so it'll be the third from your left."

The boy nodded, and dashed off, eager to inform his duke about yet-another room change. Kurogane sighed and walked down to his new wasabi-filled accommodations for the night. He wasn't sure whom he should be more angry at, that idiot lord, the princess, the page, or...

No time for that. There was work that needed doing.

During his early evening shift, he felt his eyes starting to close of their own accord. Dammit, he could have this happening! He needed to stay awake, keep himself going and out of that room for as long as he could. The maids would come by to clean it tomorrow, would whisper amongst themselves that the Duke of Hoshou seemed oddly fond of wasabi, but that would be the end of it.

He caught himself falling asleep in a tree when he realized that he was probably not going to do anything but get himself killed if he continued to stay out this late. A sleepless ninja was a careless ninja. While he was ordinarily really good at staying up for long nights in a row, he'd already pushed himself to his limit taking late nights on the roof for the past few days. Today was supposed to be a rest day...

He still managed to slice an attacker down before they even made it close to the roof, but it didn't make him feel all that better. Dragging himself through the palace, he came to the Bronze Suite's door and prepared to go in. It wasn't like he could return to the guards' quarters--not on a night he was supposed to be spending in luxury.

Wasabi luxury, he mused, tiredly. Yeah, that was it.

He jiggled the handle just right to avoid the falling contents balanced on top of the door--it really had been a nasty design; Kurogane had let a lot of anger out on the room-- and pulled out one of the servants' cots, lying it on the floor in the least-smelly area. An acrid aroma still bit at his nose from time to time, but at last, finally, he was able to fall asleep, but not without a good many nasty thoughts about Lord Taro and wasabi.

And last, before he drifted off, he wondered. Wondered why he was so adamant about the princess' suitors. He began to answer the question, but his brain was becoming foggy and muddled with sleep too fast for him to make much progress. When he at last fell asleep, it was relief.

Envy can be quite an exhausting thing.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Ah, Kuro-bun, you try so hard. Sorry for there not being that much KxT goodness in here--more will come in later chapters. Yup, as people have noticed, this is on LJ as well, and is helping me (a lot) with getting through my table for fanfic100. There's a theme to each chapter do people want to try and guess or should I just post them now? Hmm...

Oh, and for those that were wondering, curious, or really confused: the chapter title is taken and slightly altered from a chapter title of Dianne Wynne-Jones' wonderful book, _Howl's Moving Castle_. It's good, and if you like magic, romance, and weird, wacky humor, I highly recommend it. (end shameless plug)

Thanks as always for reading and reviewing! Hope you enjoyed this!

--cy.


	4. In Which a Game is Set into Motion

_chapitre IV_** : In Which a Game is Set into Motion**

He woke up with his nose twitching. Hastily exiting once he was dressed and armed, once more through the window, Kurogane didn't think he'd ever been happier to leave a room in his entire life. It was late morning, early afternoon, and he felt refreshed. The clear, crisp scent of the high air of Shirasaki's rooftops baking in the sun wafted up to him, and he spent a few moments just sitting there, aware that he was no longer being pelted with the biting odors of the past night.

As soon as he reported in at the front entrance, he was shocked at the number of people that were milling around the main hall. It seemed like each surrounding country had sent a delegation over, and that each of these groups must have contained at least an assortment of fifteen people. Palace host staff were busily directing the different groups to their respective rooms, and Kurogane hoped that the maids got to the Bronze Suite before the guests did.

But, hell, not his problem any more. He'd done his good deed for the day yesterday, which was so odious that it really ought to cover for today, too. All this generousity of character was making him queasy. He really needed to go out there tonight and slice some people up to make up for that.

And, judging by the caliber of this gathering, there was bound to be some action on the roof happening tonight.

Reassured by that thought, he made his way through the crowd, taking pleasure in shoving the most important-looking people out of his way and generally making a nusiance of himself until he got where he wanted to go. Kurogane tended to be a very practical person. When there was a problem, he went to the source and either killed it or made peace with it. Typically the former, though exceptions were made.

Currently, the problem was his strange attitude towards Princess Tomoyo. So, the only thing to do would be to go see the princess and find out what was making him feel so badly about her association with this damn Taro guy. He'd had a dozen opportunities to kill her already (Souma was alright, but surely couldn't protect the princess as efficiently as he could), and nothing had come of it.

What was it with him anyway? Yeah, that lord was an ass, but that hadn't made him unleash his fury on anyone else (well, mostly not anyone else) that visited. Kurogane had a pretty thick skin; he was used to people not approving of what he did or the way in which he did it. What was it about this lord in particular that set him off?

He was about to reach Tomoyo-hime's doors when he was suddenly bombarded with a torrent of cherry blossoms. That, and while he reeled from the sudden fragrance-- his nose must have gotten overly sensitive from staying in that room all night (damn it, who could be scared of a murderous ninja with nasal problems? No one, that's who.) -- he was knocked into a wall by the bearer.

A train of ladies in waiting passed by him, each wearing that distinctive scent. Ugh. He had to use all of his training not to cover his nose, it was so overpowering. Great. This day was certainly looking up.

Reaching the princess' chambers, he rapped quickly on the door, desiring to be let in as soon as possible. The door opened just a little bit, and, tired of all this damn waiting, Kurogane forced it the rest of the way and made his way through.

He was about halfway to opening the next door, the one that led directly to the room where Tomoyo was when he happened to hear what the maids around him were shouting:

"Her Highness is changing!"

"Oooh, don't let a man go in there!"

Kurogane's face turned several interesting shades of red, and he swiftly marched out the way he'd came and waited by the first set of doors again, like some grim-looking gargoyle.

Eventually, someone came to fetch him.

Trying to regain as much of his dignity as possible, and pretend that he hadn't just almost walked in on his ruler in a state of undress, Kurogane put on an aloof face, as though bored. Secretly, he hoped that Tomoyo hadn't seen this all happening before in a dream.

When he caught sight of her face, she had raised the hem of her robe, decorated with delicate cranes on a regal purple background, to her eyes and was doing her best to suppress a gale of laughter. Kurogane's aloofness transformed into a grimace.

Who needed foresight when you had a legion of giggling maids?

"Ohoho! Good morning, Kurogane. Have you been informed of the change in your duties tonight?"

Change? The shift in his features from annoyed to worse was evident. Kurogane didn't like it when things changed without his notice. Especially when they were things that directly pertained to whether or not he would be able to slice and dice intruders at his pleasure tonight.

Tomoyo continued, "There's to be a grand ball held for various honorable personages to celebrate another year's renewal of trade contracts and the peace accords my sister has been working to cement through the land. It's held at a different palace each year. Surely you remember escorting my carriage to these parties over the years?"

A grin crept back onto his face, even though he was trying to appear less than thrilled with the prospect of guarding a dance party. Yeah, he remembered. He recalled the scent of night grass wet with dew as the caravan of carriages sped through the evening, wind whipping past his face as he sat perched on top of Tomoyo's carriage, eyes roving the darkness for any unwise bandits that would dare to attack...

He nodded.

"I would like you to be my personal guard."

Eyes snapping open, the words flew out of his mouth before he had a chance to consider whether he wanted to speak them or not.

"Not Souma?"

"No," Tomoyo said, contentedly, "I think I can trust you not to lose your temper so radically around my guests. After all, it's going to be my duty to dance with a good number of them. Also, given the information we've recently retrieved last night, it seems likely that someone will try to make another attempt there." This last sentence was said with all the calm of one mentioning that the plants needed watering, rather than that they had received news of another assassination scheme.

"If anything should occur, I want the matter to be resolved quickly and without calling attention to it."

"So is that it, you just want me to guard you at this dance?" He asked, but as soon as the words left his mouth, he knew they were wrong. Something had smelled fishy about this thing from the very start...

Kurogane's eyes narrowed, and the princess' gleeful expression confirmed it.

"No. You're not telling me something about this." He ventured, only to see her dissolve into another string of ohoho's before being able to answer him. His eyes lingered perhaps too long on the jovial twist to her lips and the delicate poise in her hand, cocked slightly in front of her mouth, before he tore them away.

She confirmed his fears with a single statement.

"As per our treaties, there are no soldiers are to be allowed inside the main ballroom where the dancing is held. So, in order for you to effectively guard me inside, you will serve as my escort for the evening."

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Woot! Thank you all for the wonderful praise and helpful feedback! Oddly enough, since I'm basically about one chapter ahead of what's posted, yeah, there are significantly more ohoho's and smiling in here. Craziness. It's like a self-correcting story. So, yeah, I try to update lots, but also not spam people out of their minds with new things.

I'm glad people are liking it! As long as it makes people enjoy reading it, then my writing has achieved its goal.

--cy.


	5. Destroyer's Ball

_chapitre V :_: **Destroyer's Ball **

Maybe it was because of the way he'd grown up, but people like these, strutting around in their finery and trying to prove themselves more important than the other always struck him as so fragile. Their robes didn't allow for much weaponry, some were pale and dainty-looking, so easy to dispatch. And yet, here they were, ruling the world though unable to defend themselves from it, he thought sourly.

Like human peacocks, all feathers, no shell.

It was an odd feeling, being paraded around the room with the princess. She hadn't mentioned that he'd need to disguise himself as a rich lord himself in order to gain admittance, and it was purely out of luck that the Duke of Hoshou--some guy called...what was his name..Hastuhiro?-- had fallen ill. Apparently, something in the palace food had upset his stomach and his messenger had been dispatched to inform the princess.

So, dressed in the vibrant canary yellow of Hoshou, feeling like a gigantic sun come to roost in the ballroom, Kurogane strode next to Princess Tomoyo as her escort for the evening. He'd not quite managed to get a good disguise going for the sword, and even at the cost of strapping it rigidly to his back, he couldn't risk taking it. Bending would be too difficult and he'd need to move. He and Tomoyo had compromised then, by hanging it as a decoration on a central wall. If need be, he could race over and snag it.

The sleeves had allowed for much more creativity: various throwing stars, small knives, and daggers lined his arms in easy access. Ideally, he'd prefer it if combat was far away, as he'd barely gotten a thin layer of leather armor on under the robe, but hell, it wasn't like he had a choice. Whoever attacked Tomoyo could choose any time to act. The one redeeming thing about the garment was that it had regal golden-white dragons shimmering on it.

The duke had been pretty good about letting them use his name for the evening. Tomoyo had sent the page right back to his master, inquiring whether it would be suitable to use his name at the ball, and the reply had been affirmative. Hoshou owed a good deal to Nihon, it appeared. So, for the night, Kurogane was now Katsuo of Hoshou, going to the ball in his cousin's stead.

Someone came up to meet them, looking so old that Kurogane thought a single touch from him would break the man. It was weird, being royalty, and he didn't think he liked it very much.

Still, he tried to act the part as well he could, and sure enough, when the evening was over, people would recall the delegate from Hoshou as being a tall, dark, and brooding man.

But the evening was far from over.

In fact, the way Kurogane saw it, this whole mess had yet to even begin.

This was just one more reason why he disliked his society gatherings. All the vulnerable people gathered together in one spot--an easy target-- without guards, which made it even easier, and then they tried to pull off smart tricks on the others, like surprising them with weaponry. Kurogane could just as easily have done without them. Sure, there were politics to be appeased, but it just seemed like these days the business of running things was taking too much away from the actual running of things. Give him an army to dispatch any day over this crap.

He somehow made it through the entrance ring of guards without a problem. Most of them were Shirasaki staff that had been informed of their fellow's undertaking and had been told not to make a fuss about it. Kurogane rolled his eyes to himself. If they weren't checking for weapons, then chances were that people could be bringing in anything. Damn, trust security to go lax on a night when he had things to do...

The ceremonies for opening the ball got underway, he was introduced to various important people, none of whom really struck him as all that entertaining or dangerous, and as he and Tomoyo made their rounds when he chanced to pass under the display, supposedly of Nihon's teasures, that held his sword, he heard a few people commenting on the design of the hilt and its balance favorably.

He would have liked to inform them of several other aspects about it, or at least look smug, but Tomoyo pulled him on.

"Anything yet?" She whispered, with a tug at his sleeve. He shook his head a fraction. No one yet had seemed extraordinarily suspicious or out of the ordinary.

Tomoyo smiled at him. He wasn't quite sure how to respond: it was one of those dark smiles that meant that she probably had something planned that he was not going to like one bit but was going to have to put up with in order to stay in character, but also one that, oddly, sent a thrill down his spine.

He tried to ignore that last sensation, and waited for her response. Somewhere, music started in the background.

Oh no.

"Come along, duke, we must dance." Tomoyo declared, eyes shining with the thought of seeing her ninja dance.

Kurogane knew it. He'd have to do it--it's not like you can call off dancing because it might expose the shuriken up your sleeves or because you really detest the sport. Nobles dance.

His mouth was pressed into a thin line, a very angry-looking smile as he nodded, and began to drift around the floor, following his princess' moves as best he could. His training allowed him to be agile enough so that he wasn't tripping over his feet, but he was nowhere near as practiced as to show himself off as a fitting partner for the princess. It was middling performance: if people glanced their way, they were sure to noticed Tomoyo, not him.

Which, basically, was all that he wanted them to notice anyway, so that was alright.

What was not alright was the swarm of people that approached them after the piece was finished, asking if they could take a turn with the princess across the floor. Most definitely not okay was the fact that a certain green lord was amongst the crowd.

"There is something to be said for a man that can dance well, and so show off his partner's beauty and grace," Taro of the Nagashima intoned. "I beg you, my dear princess, allow me to show you."

Kurogane reminded himself that he didn't get to stab the jerk unless he was the killer, and hoped that perhaps fortune would smile on him this one time. Tomoyo laughed, that oddly endearing ohoho, and selected a prince from the Sapphire Isles for the next piece. The disgruntled suitors settled down in a ring around Kurogane, who was utterly baffled as to why at first. But with the questions they asked, their motives became clear.

"So what stroke of luck got you here as Princess Tomoyo's escort for this evening? Has the Duke of Hoshou done some unexpected favor for the country?" Taro mused. Kurogane shrugged, and then did his best to imitate regal speech without sounding like a fool.

"My cousin was taken ill," he paused, knowing that royals liked to speak in abominably long sentences, totally not at peace with his own clipped, to-the-point responses, "and I was sent in his stead to go. I believe Tomoyo-hime felt sorry for the duke and wanted to do him honor, even though he could not be present."

Whew. Damn it, this was more frustrating than picking off scarcely trained assassins that couldn't hide well. At least he enjoyed ending their careers.

"Hmm," Taro thought. "Well, I suppose Hoshou did make a goodly number of allowances, especially with its silver mines. It can't be helped, then."

What the hell? Silver mines? Oh crap, they better not be talking policy now. If that happened, Kurogane knew it would all fall apart about him. So, nonchalantly as he could, he replied, "I prefer not to discuss business at a social occasion."

God, it didn't even sound like him. He withheld a shiver.

Taro nodded, stoically. "Too many people these days don't care about that, the separation between business and pleasure. Why, to half these idiots--" he waved a hand at the crowd lining up to ask for Tomoyo's next dance, "--the whole affair of courting her is one big business tactic."

Kurogane laughed softly. "More than half, no doubt."

Actually, the correct figure was about two-thirds, but he wasn't about to let that drop. Suddenly, Taro said something that actually interested him. "Say, what's going on with that sword over there? It appears that someone's going to give us a demonstration."

"What?"

The word ripped out of Kurogane, and at once he saw what was to happen. A man clad in deep blue was talking to a crowd, trying to wrench Ginryuu free from its brass encasement. To the bystanders, he looked perhaps like an overenthused or bored weapons buff, or maybe an eccentric that had had a little too much of Shirasaki's fine sake, but Kurogane saw it immediately.

He was no assassin, that was for sure: not with his flabby build and robes that could easily be affiliated with one of the houses gathered there, but rather--

"It's a distraction." He muttered, before he could stop himself, and began walking off to a far corner, a corner where his keen eyes had seen--

"I'll agree. It was starting to get dreadfully dull in here." Taro said, eyes alit with something strange. "Are you going to go over and see what it's about?" Then, his eyes narrowed, as he took in the set of Kurogane's face and his hard expression. "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

Ah great. "Some trade meeting."

"Really, I don't remember."

Kurogane rolled his eyes so that the lord couldn't see and said what was on his mind, not caring. "Does anyone remember those?"

Taro blinked. "No, not really. Must be it, then."

It was about at this point, when Kurogane was going at a goodly pace to the man whose blade he'd seen glint for a moment in the shadows, that he realized Taro was still with him. "Aren't you going to try for her next dance?" He said, hoping that his voice wasn't as dripping with venom as it was in his head. He had to take out the attacker before Tomoyo swung by the corner again; their position had shifted from stealth to attack.

He made his way past the man with the sword, and said smoothly. "You shouldn't touch things that don't belong to you."

The man waved him off. "Ah, you Dragons of Hoshou, always getting in the way of everyone's fun. All the silver in the world, and I bet you've never had something as nice as this, have you?"

Tomoyo was in a mass of her suitors as he reached her.

"I'd like the next dance, Your Highness." Taro said, dashing in his green robes, and offering her a slight bow. Once they reached the corner, the man would strike.

So, calmly as could be, Kurogane rounded the corner and caught the assassin in what most people who saw it (there were quite few) described as the way one embraces an old friend who hasn't been seen in a while. Kurogane marched with the man all the way to the door, which, as the few people who cared thought, was probably for meetings between various heads of state. Instead, a goodly number of guardsman waited there to receive the assassin.

"Gotcha."

He came back out into the dance floor, and approached the man who was now trying to find a way out of swinging Ginryuu around, and took the weapon from him.

"Swords belong in the hands of practiced warriors, not statesmen," he said, and much as he would have wanted to show exactly how practiced he was in swordplay, he gently put Ginryuu back in the display as the disappointed onlookers dispersed. The man, no doubt, would be receiving some inquires from the guards soon enough.

A hand gripped his shoulder and Kurogane spun around to see...

Taro.

"I saw your little stunt back there," he said in a low voice. "I've heard that Hoshou royalty gets military training at a young age, but I couldn't have seen that coming. I was going to divert them, but it looks like you got there first."

Kurogane did all he could to restrain himself from bursting out. He looked like he was surprised, but still holding onto a brooding exterior.

"Ah well, I suppose this makes us rivals, then. May the best man win." The lord said, hint of a smile on his lips.

"I..." Kurogane fished for words, as a nasty thought surfaced in his head. "Suppose so."

Taro had never said that he was trying to marry Tomoyo for the money.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

I don't like making two-dimensional characters, so that's the story with Taro. He's really not that bad a guy, it seems, just a little mean to servants. But is he really okay? Can Kurogane let his princess go to someone like that?

Oh no! Drama! Hope you enjoyed the ball--it took an extra long chapter to write it, so you guys get something more to read. Yay.

Til next time,

--cy.


	6. The Art of Being Unseen

_chapitre VI :_ **The Art of Being Unseen**

"I heard that your cousin performed quite an admirable service at the ball, duke," a prince commented over their mid-morning luncheon.

"Who?" Katsukiro replied, misunderstanding settling over his sharp features. When confused, he looked like an upset canary. Then: "Ah, yes. My...cousin."

Another lord, clad in green and gold spoke up. "Ah, my good duke, you speak of him like you hardly know the man. He was attached to the princess' side all last night, and we're quite eager to hear more of his past and upbringing, if he's to be wed to her."

"Wed?" Katsukiro spluttered, trying to set his teacup down gently and failing. "I don't think it's gone that far yet, good sirs. He was only asked to be an escort for her, after all. Hoshou has been known for its neutrality in many affairs of Nihon and other states, and we would never--"

"He certainly didn't look too neutral!" One of the other lords gibbed, and laughter resounded through the hall. The duke Katsukiro resumed his tea-drinking, and tried to get through the rest of the luncheon in peace. He was not permitted to.

Meanwhile, his "cousin" was doing what he did best (well, one of the many things that he did best): making people answer his questions by any means necessary.

Kurogane didn't often get to interrogate people, since you typically needed your enemy alive in order to question them, and he tended not to bring people in in that condition. This assassin had been an exception, since Tomoyo had specifically requested that he not be harmed. Well, ordered, really. If it was a request, well...he smiled. It all depended on his mood.

The man didn't seem to want to talk too much, but Kurogane had his methods. After a few of these, he seemed more willing.

"Alright, alright!" He gasped, fists white with panic.

"Now, who hired you?" Kurogane demanded, knowing that the moment of truth was near. The scum had gone through most of the noble families, and he was closing to breaking now...

"Naga...Nagashima!" The man cried, his head dropping from the exhaustion of it all. Just then, the door opened to reveal a very disgruntled Souma, who hastily dragged him out of the interrogation room before any more could be said.

"Who do you think you are," she asked, angrily, "barging in there and questioning the prisoner like that? That's not your job. Your job is to prevent them from connecting to Tomoyo-hime. You're done as far as this guy goes."

Kurogane shrugged. "Fine, then. Oh," he called over his shoulder, as he walked back off to his quarters, "it's Nagashima, just to save you some trouble."

Souma sighed. "Do you have a witness to hearing him say it?"

Crossing back, Kurogane was about to say that he didn't need a witness, that he'd known that the whole stunt had been that damn Taro's doing all along to try to make himself look good to Tomoyo, but he held his mouth shut. Souma smiled triumphantly.

"Well, sorry, but we do things differently here. We'll inform you of what we find out, if Tomoyo-hime approves it."

Tsh. Like she would. Kurogane thought as he stalked off, hands spaded deep in his pockets, back to his room.

A bright yellow bolt flew past him.

"Hey, watch where you're go--oh." His mouth curled in distaste, as once again the page boy from a day or so ago appeared, flustered and rushed. "It's you."

"There's someone missing from our party!" The boy said hurriedly. "We didn't even know he was there to start with, or where he went after the ball--"

Trust that stupid duke not to cover for him at the last moment. Tsh. And after all he'd done to make sure things went okay at the ball. Kurogane thought up a quick excuse.

"You're looking for your duke's cousin, right?"

The boy nodded.

"He had urgent business this morning, before anybody woke up--said it required his presence back at--" crap, what was their castle called? Hell if he knew. This was what he got for not reading all those boring books on heraldry that Tomoyo had wanted him to. "--ah, Hoshou." Play it safe. Somewhere in their country was bound to need somebody royal around. "So he left." Kurogane finished lamely.

The boy nodded, and before he could ask his next question, Kurogane held up his hands.

"Look, I was on duty at the time, and since a horse leaving at the crack of dawn isn't exactly common, I found out about it, alright?"

Seeming much more reassured that an outsider didn't know all the goings on of his country, the boy nodded and departed, again running off.

Kurogane watched him. Damn, was he going to have to go through an inquisition every time he needed to disguise himself to protect Tomoyo? Nobles these days just had to know everything. Nosy bastards, he concluded sagely.

After about an hour's rest in his bunk, he was awoken by a rude rapping on his door. Grumpy and very much not in the mood to be getting out of bed--damn it, he was tired, why didn't any body see that these days? -- he answered the knocking, and found himself the proud recipient of a royal summons from the one person who could summon him out of bed, no questions asked.

"Alright, Tomoyo, this better be good," he growled, finding a nice, shady corner of the room to lurk in while his eyes finished adjusting to the light. This was made difficult by the fact that all the drapes were thrown back from the windows and the fact that it was mid-afternoon. His eyes stung.

Tomoyo seemed downcast, like there was something on her mind that she didn't want to talk about, didn't want him to know...

Kurogane bit back a laugh. The sound was harsh, grating.

"Fine, then. Just tell me whoever the hell it is and let me get some sleep."

She looked up, an unreadable emotion in her eyes, something half-between despair and fury.

"I'm serious. I'm sick of the waiting. It's been almost four damn weeks of this crap and I don't think I can take it any more. I hate this. I know what you're going to say, so just come the hell out and say it already." He spat, acid dripping from every word.

The only reason she would call him in so unannounced would be to inform him of whom she was going to marry. She'd known from the start that it would end up like this, with that abominable gap between them, as he raged and she, ever calm, severed the tie that bound them, predicting all too well how that would get in the way of her marital happiness. He'd always be there, always on the fringe of her life, protecting her though she asked him not to, saving her from a thousand little dangers, and waiting, ever waiting for her to realize--

It had been a stupid thought anyway. Last night had shown him, and probably proven to her as well, that there was no place for him in high society. He couldn't do courtly, didn't fit in with the fashions of the time, and, hell, let's face it:

Like a princess could fall for a ninja.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Ooh, admission! The moment of truth, or something like that.

Thanks for the wonderful reviews! As long as you guys keep liking them, I'll be sure to keep updating--I never thought this story would go so far! Wow. The reason things are moving quickly is because I'm trying to complete 100 fanfics for Kurogane before I go back to school. I'm at 57 now, so there's a lot more to come... Anyway, thanks again for reading!

--cy.


	7. Windswept

He held his breath, the air in the room suddenly turning stagnant and cold.

Well, he'd known it would come to this someday, hadn't he? Only a fool would have deluded himself into thinking that a princess could stay a princess forever.

He waited for the finishing blow, when she finally told him that his promise was done with and that she would be going into the protection of someone else. Maybe, a dark part of his mind said, if that person were to suffer an unfortunate accident, there wouldn't _be_ a wedding...

He shoved the thought away quickly before turning his attentions back to the matters at hand.

Tomoyo looked at him very seriously and frowned.

"Well, who do you think it is?"

Kurogane laughed, a dry, mirthless bark. Would she really do this to him? She could play mean tricks on him, but he didn't think she'd be so cruel as to make him go through the pain of actually saying it. But, if she wanted him to guess, then it wasn't like he could disobey.

"Taro. That Nagashima guy."

And, thankfully, she rolled her eyes. "No, of course not. We interrogated the prisoner more thoroughly and found that he was actually sent by through a chain of families-- either disgruntled, former landholders or people that Fubai and Hoshou had displaced when they expanded their territories a few years ago."

Kurogane had the most peculiar expression on his face: relief, anger, disbelief, and a variety of other emotions had all swept across his countenance at once, making it impossible to read, a collision of feelings. When the sentiment sank through that she wasn't getting married after all (at least not this second) he sank more heavily against the wall.

Tomoyo, meanwhile, dissolved into laughter.

"Ohoho, you don't know how hard it was to keep a straight face through that!"

Kurogane grimaced. Seeing the future was so not fair. There was no way for him to win: not when she could see his actions beforehand and plan accordingly. At least she couldn't read his mind, he consoled himself, not yet, and that was something to be thankful for.

"Alright, then, fine," he said, when he was sure that she was quite done with her laughter, "so do we have a name for these guys? You want to dispatch me to the borders to take them out?"

She shook her head, and a trace of that sad expression from before came back, as though haunting her smiles. Kurogane wondered what it could be. When you could see things that hadn't happened yet, it was bound to come with a good deal of things you didn't want to see, futures that you had to prevent, or wanted to but didn't have the power. Sometimes he thought it would have driven him insane.

But whatever it was, she had cast the thought aside for now (Kurogane knew it would come back later, that she would be troubled when he was away--that's how it was), she gave him the go-ahead to go about his nightly duties without interruption. The culprits, by this time, probably would be close to the palace if they intended on carrying out any more of their plans.

"Oh, and Kurogane," she called, a last remark before he headed off, "please try not to kill anyone more than necessary."

He hmphed and let the doors close behind him.

It wouldn't strike him until it was too late just how important that one admonition would be.

He certainly wouldn't take it to heart. Not on a night when the air was fresh, crisp, and singing with the anticipation of a battle. Tsh. Besides, it wasn't like they didn't have anywhere to put the bodies--the gardener's shed was only a last resort.

Asking him not to kill his opponents was a waste of breath. You haven't really defeated someone until he's not breathing, Kurogane thought proudly. After all, he certainly wouldn't give up until the very end. He was giving his enemies the same honor, holding them to the same standards. That's just what you signed on for when you became a ninja.

So, when he came back, half-way through his roof-crawl, bathing the tiles of Shirasaki red, Princess Tomoyo was not pleased.

He was used to this. She didn't like him plowing through mountains of assassins, or having him kill them on the spot. He was of a different opinion: they'd had their chance to get away, they knew that a ninja lived at Shirasaki that brooked no trespassing, and they came anyway. You didn't need to make it any clearer to him that that whether they deserved what they got or not.

Her lips had a slight downturn to them, and her eyes held something of a sadness he didn't often find there. Typically, she'd reprimand him, usually angrily, and tell him that lives could have been spared by his capturing his foes. He wouldn't listen, and the cycle would start afresh.

This time seemed different.

"I asked you not to kill all those people, did I not?" She inquired, voice tinged with that faraway sadness. No matter. It was still the same argument.

He was just so relieved. So relieved that she hadn't said what he had thought she would, and while thinking over on the roof what that afternoon's events had inspired in him, he happened to cut down everything in his path. Same old, same old.

"Tsh, they were attacking. They should have known that this was what they'd get for trying to seige Shirasaki." He replied nonchalantly.

She shook her head. "But surely you didn't have to kill all of them?"

He shrugged. It wasn't a really special shrug, but in the time to follow after that, it might have just been the thing that sealed his fate: his absolute unconcern.

"I'm sorry, but you leave me no choice."

Then there was a curse, and he shouted something, but the winds tore it from him as they swept him away. He saw the shapes of Tomoyo and the palace growing less distinct, and eventually it the gusts got so fierce that he closed his eyes, wondering what on earth had happened.

It was a windy day in Tokyo when he opened his eyes.

Swept off his feet and swept into another dimension, all at the hands of the same princess. Kurogane looked around at the strangely-clad people surrounding him. He had to hand it to her, she was pretty good.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

It's still going to continue, but I'm going to skip over chunks of the story we already know. This is going basically in the same direction as I had planned, with a few minor alterations here and there. Out of all these, I think my favorites thus far are Destroyer's Ball and the first chapter, which was the original Promise Me This. Anybody have any chapters they like most?

Just curious. (lol)

--cy.


	8. Sans Lune

He sat on a spire by himself, waiting for this infernal night to pass.

The chance that anything would attack them here was next to null, so much so that he felt he could even go to sleep without worry. But going down there would be just like admitting it to himself. Admitting that this really wasn't a dream, and that he (yes, even he) had done something incredibly stupid.

The stars twinkled, but their light was nothing compared to the darkness that enveloped the moonless sky. It was like something had left him, permanently and indescribably gone, cast down from somewhere that his reach didn't allow him to pull himself back up to.

He always felt the worst about it on nights like this, when the moon retreated to its other home in the cosmos, not showing its face through the long, dark passing. It always made him feel...on edge, like something bad was just waiting beyond the threshold, eager to jump out and take him by surprise when it got the chance.

It wasn't all superstition, he figured, there really was something uncanny without something to drive the overwhelming dark away. Back in Nihon, it hadn't been so bad. Shirasaki lit up the night, and on moonless evenings, he had enjoyed more security and cover on the grounds and on the roofs, flushing out assailant after assailant.

Those were the days.

Alone, in a strange world with stranger people-- that wasn't for him. Someone back where the moon was needed him, whether she chose to admit to that or not. He himself didn't like admitting that the chance of him ever coming back to Nihon was more or less next to nothing (what, with all these worlds that they could visit, without a hair's breadth of influence of control on where they were next bound?)

He wasn't a part of their happy little teamwork, he never would be. He couldn't remember a time in his life when he hadn't preferred to work alone, master skills alone, and carry out his duties alone. If there was something he couldn't do, he'd learn to do it. Relying on these other people, sleeping so carefree under the roof he was perched on (didn't he ever get tired of roofs, he wondered. He seemed to always end up there a lot), tsh.

He couldn't sleep. That was it.

Not when he was wondering, on this night without moonlight, a night without the comforting confirmation that somewhere, a symbol of his world existed--what had become of her, what was going on? Had the lords, princes, various royalties at last departed for their own castles? Had the night guard stepped it up to cover for his absence? Were they doing their job the right way?

Because if one of them, even for a moment failed...

He stared hard at the blank sky.

He'd see to them.

He'd let them know that you didn't slack when it was Tomoyo-hime's life at stake.

It was always on nights like this he worried. He hated admitting it to himself, but after experiencing it time and again when the moon disappeared, he had no other cause to tack the blame onto.

Because...oh, it sounded so insane. Like he was some kid, caught up in the throes of his first love. He frowned. That sounded a little too close to home for his comfort.

Because she was someone worth missing, someone worth wondering what she was doing, or what was going on. Because if she went away, then he might as well lose everything. He'd chased that schoolgirl who'd looked just like her (how the hell was he to know that there were copies of her wandering around all these worlds?), wondering, just wondering if maybe she'd missed him enough to check up on him, too...

Well, there wasn't anything for him to do about that from his end, was there?

And not one dream, not one measly dream. Nothing. From someone who had the gift of communicating through dreams, he had heard nothing, seen nothing. Maybe she was keeping it this way on purpose. Maybe she wanted to see how he'd do without her being around, see if he was keeping to his promises.

Something creaked downstairs. Kurogane was on guard before he next drew breath, but after that, no further sound reached him. Sakura or someone had probably just shifted in their sleep.

He sighed, muscles untensing. Maybe it was good that there hadn't been a dream. On a night like this, everything seemed to take on a sinister cast. Everything was thrown to the wind, unshepherded by the absent moon.

It was a night ripe for calamity, he reasoned, and resumed his watch. He wasn't superstitious, but he knew a bad omen when he saw one.

"Saa, Kuro-run, why are you up this late?"

Kurogane sighed. Oh great, ask for calamity and here it comes. One wizard, bound to make your life a living hell for all eternity.

"Stop calling me that. It's going to catch on pretty soon."

"Ah, they're not that impressionable. Are you worried about it?"

"Tsh. Like I'd tell you." He growled, eyes flicked back to the darkness in front of him as Fai pulled himself up onto the roof. This was tricky, since there wasn't a lot of light to see by. Kurogane thought that perhaps the catastrophe of the night would be the magician plummeting off the roof, but then corrected himself. Surely, that couldn't be a calamity. It would be a godsend.

"Why don't you get some sleep like everyone else is doing? This place seems safe enough. I don't think we'll need a guard."

Kurogane shook his head.

"Not tonight."

Wiping a fleck of sleep from his eye, Fai looked intrigued. "Why? You'll be tired tomorrow when you have to guard us past the bridge."

"I'll be awake." He chuckled mirthlessly to himself. "I've posted watch longer than this."

Fai shrugged. "Alright, suit yourself, then. It's weird to see you being so protective when there's nothing to fear. At least," he added thoughtfully, "nothing I know about." He cocked an eyebrow at the ninja.

Kurogane rolled his eyes and answered the non-question. "There's nothing out there that you don't know about it. This is just..." What? What did you call an obsession? Something that bothered you no matter how much you reasoned it out? "... a tradition. Don't worry about it."

The mage made to depart, but on his way down he thought he heard something that surprised him.

"Watch your step."

It was so quiet and so uncharacteristic that Fai almost didn't think something like that could come from someone like...

"Aww, Kuro-bun! You care about my safety so much! Thank you!" He effused, a goofy grin across his features.

Kurogane bit back a snappy remark. Hell, on a night when bad things were fated to happen, Fai seemed a prime target. He could just picture that damn mage trying to go down the stairs, waving to him merrily, and all of a sudden breaking his neck by slipping on something.

There was no way to win, Kurogane sulked, as the door to the roof and attic snapped shut. No way at all on a night like this.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

I don't want this fic to dwell too much on Kurogane coping while he's away from Tomoyo, but rather with the actual romance. So, if the time he spends traveling worlds seems a bit short, that's probably it. Expect flashbacks!

Hope this is enjoyable!

--cy.


	9. In Which a New Compass Turns

Honestly, it's not like he ever had too much of a choice either way.

He'd never admit that destiny ever had a hold on him, that he had ever been steered in a particular direction by decisions other than his own. Typically people that try to pull that on him end up very unhappy. And sometimes, very dead.

But this thing, telling him that he'd been fated to go off and assist a magician-turned-vampire, flying princess, and a boy so many worlds from home that it was hard to keep count any more--that had started to look too close to destiny for comfort. If there was one thing he was fated to do, he wanted to have a say in what it was. There were a few things he won't have minded. Becoming the biggest badass that Nihon had to offer, well, he wouldn't have too much trouble making that prophecy come true.

And what about having his fate interwined with someone? Didn't they need permission for that? Like, maybe, just check up with him beforehand before going off and messing up worlds and breaking out the higher magics to chain him to someone him might not be able to stand?

At least _that_ didn't seem to be going through. Fai had had his heart set on seeing other worlds, going places, and now with his eye back where it rightfully belonged (being blind in one eye had to be tough, but hell, you just don't go stealing other people's eyes to fix it. There were standards in inter-world travel that you had to hold up), the magician was free to go his own way. The two kids had called it fate and settled down in Clow, and that left him, Kurogane, to settle things in his own world.

Yeah, good-byes were rough, but sometimes coming back to say hello again could be much rougher.

He pushed open the doors to Shirasaki, pleased to see that the guards still recognized him and knew not to question his motives for arriving through the front door. Good. The witch had warned him that there might be some time discrepancy between when he'd left and when he returned. Kurogane bit back a laugh. Wouldn't it have suited him just right, after his parents' murderer (for his father surely wouldn't have died if his mother hadn't) was taken care of, just after his affairs had been set in order, that he would come back to his home a century after he intended to?

He let out a breath that he didn't realize he'd been holding.

Come on, already, he reminded himself. This was Shirasaki, the palace he'd practically had full run of the last time he'd been inside. Well, not officially full-run, but as a guard of the princess (and an intimidating one at that), people tended to let you go where you wanted to, minimal questions asked. It came with the territory.

The hall was a lot less busy than he'd remembered it. Weird.

Well, it stood to reason that the trade convention people had to go home eventually. Somewhere, someone's castle was going to need protecting, or someone needed to feel the brunt of the ruling power. Kurogane knew how it went, and he did his best to stay out of politics. If he wanted back-stabbing, he could get the literal kind with a lot less bother and funny clothes.

But this seemed weird. Something didn't feel right. Maybe he'd been away too long.

There was no sign of Tomoyo in the hall. Had he really expected her to be there, just happening to pass by at the precise moment he entered? He berated himself for the thought and his mind flew through a list of places she typically was. Maybe the reason it was so quiet was because she was out. The lack of guards hanging around at the doors, no shock or immediate reaction as he'd come in...hmm.

He poked back outside, not five minutes after he'd entered. He hadn't been able to sense Tomoyo-hime right off the bat, so he wanted to confirm her absence before despairing in his abilities.

"Hey."

The guard perked up, not wanting to seem like he was slacking. Tsh, Kurogane rolled his eyes. That just about confirmed it right there. With people like this guarding the gates, just a step up from novices, the princess was sure as hell not in this castle.

"That's right," the guard confirmed, after Kurogane had asked. "I thought you must have been sent back for the official papers or something. Tell me, have they come to a decision yet?"

Kurogane shrugged. "Just tell me where she is."

The guard's eyes widened. "I'd heard you'd been sent away, but I didn't think you could go anywhere without hearing about this."

Apparently in his absence, people had started to forget what sort of a person he was. He gave the guard a glare. Kurogane hated it when his reputation failed to precede him. "I'm in a hurry."

The guy gulped. Kurogane smiled, and not one of those happy smiles either. "Well, word is that after making her grand tour of Hoshou and Fubai, the princess is going to announce which ruler she'll marry."

Kurogane's smile widened. So she hadn't married anybody yet. Hell, he was getting to think that the witch had planned it this way. But where was she now? Hoshou was to the west, and Fubai to the south. If he started out southwesterly, he could have a chance at intercepting them, but...why risk it?

"You know where she's at now?" The youth shrugged. Kurogane could have kicked himself. Typical. "What about which she visited first? Is she almost done with the trip?"

This he seemed to know. "She went to Fubai first, and she's due in a week or so from now."

Okay, so he headed to Hoshou. Wow, asking rather than attacking sure made things simple sometimes. Who said he hadn't learned anything from his trip? Kurogane nodded, and patted the boy on the head with his mechanical arm, causing the guard to recoil in terror.

Whoops, Kurogane chided himself. Look at him, making the guards jumpy on his first day back. He smiled as he walked out and tried to decide on the best way west to Hoshou. At least he'd have a whole new crop of freshly terrified recruits to anticipate on his return.

The way things had gone for him thus far, maybe destiny (in the form of Fei Wong Reed) had been messing around with his life, setting it along on its predestined course. From now on, though, he was done with that; he made his own choices. Good or ill, whatever came of it, it would be his own hand that set into motion the path his life took. There was something liberating in that, like being told that instead of traveling on a paved road, you were free to roam the alleys, woods, and anyway your feet could take you.

And that, he decided, as he deviated from the roads and the cover of night spread out across the land, was precisely what he was going to do. He'd already made the most important choice long ago, and the rest was just seeing it through.


	10. Resolve and a New Tactic

Sometimes getting back to your normal life and routine can be just as fun as leaving it, Kurogane thought, as he delicately pried the glass away from one of the castle's windows and slipped inside. Breaking into places he wouldn't normally be invited: well, that was just one more thing he enjoyed about his old job.

Or, he supposed, his regular life: the one he fell back on when traveling the worlds and retrieving wings got dull or went into the off-season. He was pretty sure that, Sakura being as accident-prone as she was, that the wings were bound to break again (somehow) and that the group would need to reassemble to save the day once more from a power-hungry dreamseer. He wasn't going to say that he didn't enjoy it, but hell, leaving everything behind at the drop of a hat was rough.

The metal slowly fell away from the window and silently dropped on the floor. He was in.

Life never really turns out the way you think it will, he mused. Breaking into Hoshou's grand palace--Hikari no ...something or another; he'd get the name eventually -- wasn't exactly something he'd foreseen, but he was having a hell of a time doing it. They really needed to up their security. If Tomoyo-hime chose them, then he'd have a few choice words for that Katsukiro about his guards...

Of course, he smiled, that was if Tomoyo-hime still wanted anyone else after he spoke with her.

The journey had been pretty long, going from Fubai to Hoshou. Without her most deadly ninja accompanying her, Tomoyo had had to take more warriors along with her to compensate. She was still about as safe, but with so many extra people traveling in her party, it made the trek longer and finding accommodations for all of them...difficult.

"Alright! We need the elite guard over here, by the princess!" A Hoshou official in charge of finding rooms for them yelled over the uproar. "Everyone else, keep to the sides!"

Tomoyo sighed, surveying the disorder. She contemplated bringing the troops to order, but a young page clad in yellow tugged at her sleeve while sinking into a deep bow. For a moment, she wondered how many times the page had had to practice that particular motion in order to get it right.

"Please, princess. Allow me to show you to your quarters."

She nodded, and followed the boy, leaving the attendants to sort out the mess.

Since losing her foresight and dreamseeing powers, she'd slowly lost most of her suitors. Somehow, though Nihon had stayed essentially prosperous, word had gotten out that the miko princess had lost the talent to see the future. The countries dropped out slowly, some princes recalling age-old, forgotten betrothals, others saying that immediate business regrettably forced them to leave.

Tomoyo doubted that they'd really regretted it. She sighed when she thought about it; it made her wonder how much people valued her without her powers, how much any of them had really liked her for herself. She'd known from the beginning what their true intentions had been, most of them, but that didn't stop it from hurting when she experienced it.

She came to the door of the room she'd be staying in, and let the page open the door for her.

She did not expect that the room would already have an occupant.

"About damn time."

He was seated in the dark side of the room, the part that, when the sun sank to the west, would be lit ablaze in shades of orange and red. His black cloak and clothes stood out starkly against the white cloth and bedspread, as he languidly removed himself from a chair and stood to his full height. She met his eyes unhesitatingly, as she had always done. So why did she feel so different this time?

"Kurogane." She said, surprised at the levelness in her voice. "You've returned."

"Traveling the worlds is a bitch, Tomoyo." The page cringed here, shocked at how anyone could use such foul language in the presence of royalty. "I've learnt a lot."

The princess nodded, hairpiece bobbing gracefully as she did so. One of her ornaments tinkled in the silence. At the door, the page wasn't doing so well. He looked from princess to ninja, wondering what was going on, whether this intruder (for that was what the man was, really, an intruder) would make a move, or if it would be more pert of him to leave, if he was interrupting something personal.

The man in black made his choice for him. Sweeping across the room, he closed the space between himself and the princess in fewer movements that the page thought was possible. Inclining his head to the princess, the man lowered his eyes, too, a gesture of...

_Of what?_ wondered Tomoyo, as Kurogane made his slight bow before her. What was that supposed to mean? For Kurogane, showing respect had never been a strong suit. He'd always chaffed at having to bow, not because of his former status in his own land, but because he hated admitting that anyone was better than him without reason. Even Tomoyo, who had been the sole person to which the infamous ninja had ever owed absolute loyalty or respect, had never seen this.

Back then, she'd been the only person able to exert control on him. He'd been a tempest, a storm that only she could direct, but a storm, an uncontrollable force of nature at best. Now...

Was this deference? Was her wildest guardian at last recognizing her as more than his director, but...?

It was very confusing.

It was made even more confusing, though, by the lingering look at Kurogane gave her, allowing his deep red eyes to take in the sight of her as much as they could, before he left, off to rejoin the others or something. She flushed.

Hadn't he told her what he was going to do? Hadn't he said that on his way out? Tomoyo looked away from the page boy and pretended to examine her quarters.

There was something about him, right from when she'd first set eyes on him, sitting expectantly in her room, that told her that he was different, that something had changed. She watched his back as he disappeared down the hall. He was different than before, different even from when he had learned the true meaning of strength, as though he had settled something else, something that gave his actions certainty and purpose.

Tomoyo swallowed. It was times like these when she really missed being able to see the future. But, that was just how life went, wasn't it?

Later that evening, the duke of Hoshou, Katsukiro, got a very unexpected visit from a man whom that guard at the door said had claimed to be his cousin.

* * *

**Author's Note**:

Somehow, I don't think this visit will be very pleasant.

Now the real romancing begins! Hope you guys enjoy it as I write these next chapters!

--cy.


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